Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ:PINC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $23.50 and last traded at $23.44, with a volume of 46405 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $22.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PINC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Premier from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Premier from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Premier from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark cut shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Premier from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.36.

Premier Trading Up 0.9 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.90. The firm has a market cap of $2.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 0.40.

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $248.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.85 million. Premier had a return on equity of 10.74% and a net margin of 11.41%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Premier, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current year.

Premier Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Premier’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andy Brailo sold 4,390 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.51, for a total value of $90,038.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 104,410 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,141,449.10. This represents a 4.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael J. Alkire sold 1,264 shares of Premier stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.01, for a total value of $25,292.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 558,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,168,441.43. This trade represents a 0.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 141,537 shares of company stock worth $2,915,552. Insiders own 0.96% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Premier by 384.3% during the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,311,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,828,000 after buying an additional 5,007,851 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Premier by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,951,043 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,105,000 after acquiring an additional 773,207 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Premier by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,973,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,472,000 after acquiring an additional 32,193 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Premier by 60.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,051,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,303,000 after purchasing an additional 772,392 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Premier by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,741,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,836,000 after purchasing an additional 97,458 shares during the period. 74.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Premier Company Profile

Premier, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a healthcare improvement company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Supply Chain Services and Performance Services. The Supply Chain Services segment offers its members with an access to a range of products and services, including medical and surgical products, pharmaceuticals, laboratory supplies, capital equipment, information technology, facilities and construction, and food and nutritional products, as well as purchased services, such as clinical engineering and workforce solutions.